


My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

by hamlets_ghost



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: (but even low chaos Corvo can feel anger), Fix-It, Gen, I just want Kirin Jindosh to have gotten the same chance as Sokolov okay?, Low Chaos Corvo Attano, Post-Low Chaos Ending, and the low chaos ending was sad, mention of violent thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:56:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27668528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamlets_ghost/pseuds/hamlets_ghost
Summary: In the end it had been Sokolov that had saved the man’s life. The old man had simply looked at Corvo and must have sensed the doubt in his eyes, because he made the decision for him.“A long time ago, I too was on the wrong side of history, and you gave me a chance. What changed?”Nothing. Nothing is the answer. Yet, Corvo had still considered it.
Relationships: Corvo Attano & Anton Sokolov
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' act 4, scene 4, because I am that kind of person.

In the end it had been Sokolov that had saved the man’s life. The old man had simply looked at Corvo and must have sensed the doubt in his eyes, because he made the decision for him.  
  
“A long time ago, I too was on the wrong side of history, and you gave me a chance. What changed?”  
  
_Nothing._ Nothing is the answer. Yet, Corvo had still considered it; running a blade through him, letting his own machines kill him, placing him in his own inventions build for torturing the very man who saved his life. Why? Corvo didn’t know. Had he grown bitter with age? More vengeful? More cynical?  
Yes, Jindosh was clearly dangerous, immoral and insane – but what had he personally done to Corvo other than having him run around in his house like a rat in a maze trying to get the promised cheese at the exit?  
Jindosh had built inventions that were used by the people who had hurt him – hurt his daughter – but Sokolov had done the same and yet, Corvo had been able to forgive him. Void, he hadn’t even had a conversation with Jindosh only really having heard his grating voice through the speakers.  
  
Corvo’s dilemma of what to do with the young inventor had been there from initially seeing him through the glass, watching him deduct who he was behind the mask without saying a word himself. So rather than taking the bait – following the rage and hatred in his heart – he had gone to Sokolov, finding clues around the house as to where he was.  
  
And he didn’t even have to ask.

_You gave me a chance._

Corvo had, and Sokolov had done the right thing. Would Jindosh do the same?  
Corvo’s thoughts are heavy with doubt yet again as they sit on the small boat going towards the Dreadful whale. Sokolov is sleeping, leaning softly against his shoulder. He is snoring into his ear, and yet Corvo doesn’t mind. Doesn’t even notice. His eyes are on the other sleeping shape on the boat – unconscious really, not sleeping – who is laying in front of him.  
  
Jindosh is younger than Corvo imagined him, hearing him through the speakers. He is also way too light, as Corvo had been able to maneuver him around easily. It is weird looking at him now. Before when he had been an almost godly presence – a deux ex machina – speaking through the speakers, his house twisting and turning under Corvo’s feet, it had been easy to hate him. Easy to forget that he too was a human.  
  
He looks human now; the dark rings under his eyes, the light twitching of his fingers when the boat moves too quickly, the long eyelashes, the soft looking lips.  
  
Corvo cannot help but stare, trying to figure out how a person like Jindosh functions. He can feel the way Megan is watching him watching Jindosh, and yet he does not mind. What must she be thinking? Does she know he was going to kill him? How close he came to doing something even worse than that; taking away his mind and its autonomy?  
  
Does she know Corvo has changed?  
  
She doesn’t say anything as she lets him place Jindosh in a holding cell – a small room with a lock in the belly of the ship that Corvo hasn’t seen before – while she helps Sokolov on board. She doesn’t even mention it later, when the three of them are eating dinner. Not even Sokolov says anything about it, only asking where the other inventor is, as Megan pushes a plate in his direction.  
  
Corvo very deliberately doesn’t visit or think about Jindosh as he continues his mission to stop Delilah and rescue the rightful empress. Doesn’t think about the fact that he still hasn’t had a conversation with the young inventor. Still doesn’t know what makes him tick.  
Doesn’t think about the fact that he himself has changed.  
  
It is only after he has had his daughter is his arms, alive and well – Delilah stuck somewhere in the painting – that he allows his thoughts to wander elsewhere.  
Either Sokolov or Megan – Billie – must have fed him, because Jindosh is still alive when he is brought into the cell under the tower. His clothes are awfully dirty and his eyes somehow even more sunken into their sockets; but he is alive and even able to give Corvo an angry glare as he passes him. The guards push him into the cell and salute Corvo before leaving. Corvo nods his head towards them before entering the cell and shutting the door behind him.  
  
It has been a week since Delilah has been dethroned, and Corvo has been thinking a lot since then; by day, mostly about how to set Dunwall – all of Gristol, really, and the other Isles too – straight again, Emily and other political matters, but as day turned to night, his thoughts laid elsewhere. He feels now is a good time to finally do what he should have done the day he had met him; give Jindosh a choice.  
  
“Comfortable?” is the first thing he asks as he enters the cell, letting his eyes look over the small room. Jindosh has been seated on one of the chairs next to a small table, his right arm chained to the wall beside it. As if he could do anything to hurt Corvo.  
  
“Not very, but it is more spacy than the cell in the ship, so I will consider this an upgrade,” Jindosh’s voice is polished and punctuated. It sounds much different in person than over the speakers, and Corvo has to physically stop himself from leaving the room. Jindosh is so human, and he doesn’t know how to handle it.  
  
Instead he takes a seat on the other chair, keeping his face neutral and calm, “I have been wanting to talk to you for a while, alas I have been too busy to do so. With what, you may be able to guess.”  
  
“I have some ideas, yes,” Jindosh leans back, clearly trying to look unaffected by this, but the way his legs are shaking in small fits gives him away. Corvo doesn’t need the heart to know what Jindosh is feeling. _Fear._ Jindosh is afraid of Corvo. It’s almost ironic, since Corvo too feels like running from the other man.  
  
“Why did you work for the duke?”  
  
The question is out before Corvo can change his mind, and he watches as Jindosh blinks, once, twice, clearly thinking about how to answer the question. There is a silence of which origin Corvo cannot place, but then Jindosh starts to speak.  
  
“He offered me funding for my research, so how could I say no?”  
  
“You did this – participated in a coup, build killing machines, resurrected Delilah – for funding? All of this for a few coins?”  
  
The answer is almost disappointing. Either Corvo had expected some reveal of Jindosh’s true evil nature – _I did it because I enjoy killing innocent people –_ or one that would prove his innocence – _I was forced to do it, against my will –_ but this is…so human it hurts.  
  
“It did help that I got out of a prison sentence, but yes. That is the essence of it, really.”  
  
When Corvo doesn’t answer, Jindosh cocks an eyebrow, “did you expect something else? Did my answer disappoint you?”  
  
“No, it was just…obvious,” Corvo admits and this time Jindosh looks confused,”either way, I still want to give you a choice.”  
  
“A choice?” Jindosh doesn’t look too convinced.  
  
“Yes, a choice,” Corvo leans backwards into his chair, mirroring Jindosh’s position, “I want to offer you the opportunity of working under the crown. Use your inventions for good; I know you don’t only build weapons. I have seen your other creations.”  
  
There is yet another silence, as Corvo awaits Jindosh’s answer.  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Excuse me?” Corvo says, forcing himself not to move.  
  
“I just want to know why you are offering me this. It doesn’t make sense; every other person involved in the coup was punished and what do you give me? A job offer. You must surely understand why I’m having difficulties trusting your intentions, right?”  
  
“Duke Abele gave you a job offer; a job offer which you – if I may remind you – you accepted. Am I somehow less worthy of your trust than him?”  
  
“No,” Jindosh places his fingers on the bridge of his nose – only now does Corvo notice that his prosthetics have been removed and he feels a pang of guilt for letting that happen. It cannot be fun when you are used to being able to use both of your hands, to suddenly only to be able to use one. He takes a deep breath and removes the hand again, letting it rest somewhere under the table where Corvo cannot see it, “Abele had a reason to do it; he could use me. Had a reason to use me even, but you… you have other natural philosophers much more reliable than me. Someone who didn’t almost kill you. You have the whole Academy at your disposal, and even though I am perhaps better than most of them – all of them – you still have no reason to pick me. Trusting me just seems unwise and I want to know why you would endanger yourself and the empress like this. It simply doesn’t make sense.”  
  
This time it is Corvo who pauses the conversation. He tries to appear less out of his depth than he feels, and hopes he is succeeding. Jindosh is staring at him, his eyes curious, but guarded and something in Corvo feels _something_ about that.  
  
“I almost didn’t,” Corvo starts, ignoring how every fiber in his body tries to stop him from laying his doubts and flaws bare in front of a potential enemy, “I almost killed you. Or worse, I almost fried your mind in that chair of yours. I… don’t kill people, even if I want to. I never have. It feels wrong; it doesn’t punish them, just ends their existence. I have had thoughts like that before; about killing those who wronged me, and yet I have easily been able to shrug them off.”  
  
He changes his position, looking at where his own hand is resting. His fingers are drumming on the cold metal surface of the table as he avoids making eye contact with the dark brown eyes in front of him, “I was meters away from you. Hovering over you by the book shelves, watching you with a blade in my hand and the thoughts… they didn’t go away. That was when I knew something was wrong. That I needed to leave. I went to rescue Sokolov instead, and he convinced me to give you a chance. Like I did for him many, many years ago. I came back, knocked you out and here we are.”  
  
“So you didn’t give me a chance because you _wanted_ to, but because you… _needed_ to, to feel like you still had the moral high ground?”  
  
Corvo’s fingers stop moving. He opens his mouth to defend himself, but nothing comes to mind. He closes it again and looks up, only for Jindosh to interrupt his train of thoughts.  
  
“I accept then. The offer; I accept it.”  
  
Corvo furrows his brows, “you accept because you know I wanted to kill you?”  
  
“I accept because your reason is as good as any – better than most actually. I think I know what kind of person you are now, and I understand. I can work for the crown as long as I get a space big enough for my experiments and I want to be able to work on small projects on the side – nothing deadly, don’t worry – and funds to do so. I can imagine harvesting the power of wind is one of the things you want me to start on, yes? I can do that, but I do want a room too, since I haven’t sleep properly in _days_. Do you know how hard it is to fall asleep in a moving ship?”  
  
“I… I do know yes, I was on the same ship,” Corvo answers, as he tries to find a proper response to the rest, “I cannot promise you all of this, since I would need to talk to the Empress and Sokolov too, but it does sound reasonable. You will be under close scrutiny though, and all your experiments will have to be approved.”  
  
“That sounds fair and well,” Jindosh says, holding out his hand, “do we have an agreement then?”  
  
Corvo nods and takes his hand, marveling at how warm it is. _Human. He is human._

“When everything is settled I will have someone come get you,” Corvo says, standing up to leave. Jindosh nods in response, and it is only as he closes the door that he sees the way Jindosh’s leg is still shaking, the remaining fingers on his left hand gripping onto the knee tightly under the table where he had not been able to see it before. It somehow makes him feel good knowing that Jindosh had still been afraid. That Corvo had still been in control of the situation.  
  
That good feeling is quickly drowned out though, as he registers it and the regret of enjoying someone else’s fear gives him a bitter taste in his mouth. Something has changed, but Corvo refuses to let it control him. And somehow Jindosh has become the person to make sure it doesn’t.


End file.
